Reign in Ruins #1 is a comic created by Eric Diorio with art by Von Randal & Elvin Chang and colors by Maxwell Ortiz. One sister struggles with ruling over her subjects while the other has her troops on the warpath. This is a fantasy comic with a significant amount of drama, political intrigue, and a main cast of women. There are three leading ladies here: Queen Nemesia, Queen Mercia, and Lady Vargr. The queens are sisters but I am unaware of Lady Vargr’s connection to them. Queen Nemesia is a cold and petty person who isn’t very loved by her subjects. Queen Mercia is similarily cold and she’s known as “Mercia the Merciful”. She is also a skilled fighter who is currently leading an army. Lady Vargr seems to be an advisor with a lot of power. This story begins with Queen Nemesia having a dinner with some of her nobles that has them on the defensive. The perspective then shifts to Mercia with her troops on a battlefield mercy killing the enemy. This takes place in a world with medieval-like world with no discernible magic/supernatural elements. The violence is bloody with gruesomeness and gore. The pacing here is slow with as there is a lot of talking and a high potential for confusion. This has dark fantasy vibes with many dramatically intense moments with a few violent ones. The dialogue has that verbose, proper English style with good back-and-forth and snarky wit. There is only one true word-heavy page but there are many thick text bubbles that slow everything down. This is an intriguing debut issue that stars powerful ladies in a story with political intrigue, royal rivalries, and potential doom.

            There are two art styles here and the first is intricately detailed, reminiscent of 70’s/80’s comics, and has heavy shading; but this only goes for four pages. The second and main art style is drawn in a modern, smoothly detailed style with a strong focus on lighting and shading. The color palette is pretty wide overall but dark, gray/silver, and brown tones are the most prominent. Scenery here consists of jagged mountain ranges, lakes, and open fields. The main location differs between the sisters: Queen Nemesia is generally in or around her palace whereas Queen Mercia is outdoors traveling with her soldiers. Backgrounds here consistently show the immediate surroundings whether that’s grass and birds or walls and windows. The expression level here is low as most of the characters here are hard and tough and don’t show their feelings. Emotions we’ll see here include annoyance, irritation, and fear. The faces have an overall average amount of detail with just about every different look coming across clearly. Weapons used here are swords, bows, and axes. The violence here has brutal, bloody attacks that can be gruesome and lead to gore. The action scenes tend to come in short bursts and have a good, unconfusing flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

If this is up your alley, yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like fantasy stories that star multiple women(two being queens) and feature political intrigue, drama, and violence then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness, gore, lewdness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I’ve developed a habit of not caring.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/178005497/reign-in-ruins-issue-1/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 23

Violent Pages: 4, for 17% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 3, for 13% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 2

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 4

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 2

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”